Nick Kyrgios explains his Twitter pot-shot at Taylor Walker

IT SAID a lot about Nick Kyrgios — and his value to tennis — that one of the most memorable moments of day one came on the practice court.

Kyrgios moment you didn’t see

A FEW hours before cruising into the Australian Open second round, Nick Kyrgios enhanced his reputation as the ultimate showman during a practice session on court 17 in front of his brother, Christos, good mate and fellow professional Thanasi Kokkinakis and an adoring crowd.

The 20-year-old trained like he plays. There’s a bit of exaggerated grunting, the occasional dropped racquet and regular acknowledgements his training partner is “too good” when he’s unable to reach a shot.

Always looking for ways to make the mundane entertaining, Kyrgios challenged his hitting partner to a tiebreaker — and the sledging began. “Three-two me?” he asked after the fifth point. “It’s all over now.”

Kyrgios followed this declaration by charging at a first serve in the same way Roger Federer made famous last season. He crushed a winner. “Don’t come in here!” he shouted before glaring at his victim. “I thought you had a big serve?” The crowd, which had gathered five-deep on the side of the court, lapped it up.

Comfortable with his form, Kyrgios was keen to finish the session with a bit of a fun. He pulled an ecstatic youngster from the crowd to be the final member in a six-man game, known as “mini tennis” or “arse”.

He’s got plenty of critics, but the 20-year-old always has time for his fans.

It’s basically a volley contest where players earn strikes for losing the point. The first to lose three has to crouch down on his knees with his backside in the air while the other players fire serves at him.

Kyrgios protected his young teammate — a 14-year-old named Andy Peng who travelled by himself from Sydney to watch the Open — by dominating play. But he admonished him when he attempted a smash, which is against the rules. “That’s why he took two points off me,” Peng said after.

Thankfully for Peng he avoided a third strike. The loser — one of Kyrgios’ entourage — was also counting his lucky stars when he managed to avoid any serious damage.

“The crowd was really into my session,” Kyrgios said. “I love running out there and joking around. All the kids were out there watching and I thought one of them might want to play.”

It said a lot about Kyrgios — and his value to tennis — that a half hour hit up in searing heat became one of the most memorable moments of day one.

WHY KYRGIOS HIT OUT AT TEX

NICK Kyrgios has explained the Twitter jab he took at AFL footballer Taylor Walker in the lead-up to his opening match at the Australian Open.

Kyrgios was in savage form on and off the court on Monday, destroying first-round opponent Pablo Carreno Busta hours after hitting Walker with a not-so-subtle post on social media.

Branded a “galoot” by Walker after a foul-mouthed outburst at the Shanghai Masters last October, Kyrgios returned serve yesterday by tweeting a link to an article about a nude photo scandal involving Collingwood players Dane Swan and Travis Cloke.

“Oh these ‘Galoots’,” he wrote in the accompanying message.

Kyrgios’s message was clear: if you’re going to have a crack at me for my on-court misdemeanours, perhaps look in your own backyard first.

“When I swear or get angry I get hung out to dry a bit,” Kyrgios said later when asked about the reason for the tweet. “I think that behaviour’s not really tolerated.”

The explanation capped another entertaining day in the life of Australia’s most colourful tennis player.

He was awesome on the court, moving into a second round match against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas by dispatching Busta in straight sets.

Busta, ranked 68th in the world, has stalled somewhat since rising 600 places in 2013, the year he was named the ATP’s most improved player.

He’d never made it out of the first round at the Australian Open — losing to Gilles Muller last year and Julien Benneteau in 2014 — and was 0-1 against the hometown hero.

Kyrgios was on song right from the start.

Kyrgios had come from a set down to defeat Busta on the Spaniard’s preferred surface of clay to qualify for his first ATP final at the Estoril Open in May last year.

If he could beat him in Portugal, surely Melbourne was a formality? It proved that way.

Kyrgios warmed up on Hisense Arena — which he later said was his favourite court in the world — in a white jacket before unveiling the same Nike singlet Grigor Dimitrov had debuted that afternoon.

To be fair the Aussie wore it better, adding a black compression top underneath to add his own personal touch.

Kyrgios admitted to early nerves in an on-court interview after the match but if they were there you couldn’t see them. He punctuated his opening service game with a 211km/h bomb and quickly claimed the first set 6-2.

There was a slight hiccup in the second game of the second set when Kyrgios netted a Hollywood forehand at 30-0. He proceeded to lose the next three points to go down a break but it wasn’t long before normal service resumed.

Kyrgios was superior in every aspect of the game, winning significantly more easy points on serve and showing smarts at the net to win 6-2 7-5 6-2.